Lone Wolfe
by Emily Blake
Summary: Sequel to "Saving Caine." Where did Ryan get the money for Horatio's ransom? The answer may cost him his life as he is hunted down by the loan shark, a reputed mobster. Even the CSI: Miami team may not be able to save him this time.


_BANG._

The shot from the Beretta sent a tingling jolt up her arms. Calleigh smiled. She loved the sound of a 9 mm in the morning.

Setting the gun down on the counter, she removed her goggles and walked over to the gel block. She pried the bullet from it and looked at it closely.

"Let's see who you belong to," she said to it cheerfully.

After five minutes of scanning, the computer still hadn't kicked out any names. Calleigh sighed, her head resting on one hand.

Someone tapped on the window, making her look up.

"You're here early," Eric pointed out.

"Yeah," she admitted, stifling a yawn. "I wanted to run a sample of that gun from the Fleming case."

"Any hits yet?"

She shook her head. "No, but it's only been going for a few minutes."

"I'd be surprised if we didn't get any hits. The way Fleming was done, the perp had to be a repeater," he said.

"Yeah. One to the heart, then double-tap to the back of the head. Horatio is thinking it was a hired hit," she told him.

"Makes sense. So," Eric prodded, "have you seen him yet?"

"Seen who?" she asked.

"Wolfe. He's back."

Her eyes widened. "Already? It's only been three weeks!"

"He's in H's office right now. I don't think he's working again yet, just here to sign some papers for paid medical leave or something."

**~:o:~**

"Just sign on that line," Horatio said, pointing, "and I'll take care of the rest."

"Thanks, H," Ryan said, picking up a pen. "I really appreciate your help with this stuff."

"It's the least I could do, Wolfe."

Ryan scribbled a hasty signature, then put the pen down and sighed. He rubbed his left shoulder, wincing.

"How're you doing, Wolfe?" Horatio asked him.

"What, this?" Ryan said, indicating his sore shoulder. "After getting my eye blasted by a nail gun, getting shot in the back is a picnic."

Horatio smiled. "Good to hear. Let me know if you need anything, alright?"

"Will do, H," Ryan answered, getting up to leave. "Hey, have you seen Calleigh and Delko yet this morning? I was going to stop by and say hello before I leave."

Horatio grinned again, his eyes on a spot behind Ryan. "They beat you to it."

Ryan turned. Calleigh and Eric stood in the hallway below, looking up through the glass of Horatio's office with expectant looks on their faces. Ryan chuckled at his friend's devotion.

"They don't miss a trick," he said.

**~:o:~**

"So, how's leave treating you?" Calleigh asked.

The three of them sat in the lounge, drinking coffee together in the warm morning sunlight.

Ryan smiled. "It's alright. I haven't had much to do but sit on my couch and catch up on a couple soaps. To tell you the truth, I'm getting a little restless. I miss the job."

"As far as we're concerned, you can come back anytime," Eric said.

"If it was up to me I would have been back a week ago, but both my doctor and the brass have been keeping me on a pretty short leash," Ryan joked. "I guess they don't want me to rupture anything."

There was a small but comfortable silence. Then Calleigh broke it hesitantly.

"Ryan, I don't mean to drag a cloud over this," she began carefully. "But something's been bothering me ever since that business three weeks ago with Horatio and the Pison brothers."

A small shadow flitted across Ryan's face. "What's on your mind?"

"Where did you get the ransom money?" she blurted. Another silence followed her question, this one not nearly as comfortable as the first.

Finally Ryan sighed and sat back on the couch. "I borrowed it from a guy."

"Where did you manage to find a guy who was willing to let you borrow 500,000 dollars on such short notice?" Eric asked. He had been thinking the same thing as Calleigh for a long time.

"There's this guy I was once investigating a few years ago for smuggling and money laundering. We staked out his loading dock at Seastone Marina but didn't find anything and the bank accounts were legitimate, so we had to drop the case."

"You did what?!" Calleigh exclaimed, shocked.

"He was never convicted or arrested. For all I knew, he was clean."

"You went to a crook?!" Eric demanded.

"Ryan, what were you thinking?" Calleigh cried.

"I wasn't, alright? I was worried about H, the investigation was going nowhere without the ransom, so I paid him a visit."

"What are you going to do? Guys like that don't give money away freely," Calleigh pointed out.

"The money was recovered from the Pisons. I'm going downstairs in awhile to reclaim it. I have a good amount of money in the bank, so I can afford to give him some interest," Ryan explained, rubbing his temples tiredly.

"How is IAB not all over you right now?" Eric asked.

"Horatio and I have talked this over and he's spoken to a few people. It's been taken care of. As far as anyone outside needs to know, I inherited the money," Ryan admitted.

There was silence once more.

"I have it under control," Ryan said quietly.

Calleigh looked at him with piercing green eyes.

"We hope you're right," Eric said.

**~:o:~**

Ryan drove down a small side street, the steam rising from the sewers and manholes giving the dark road a creepy look. It was almost 10 p.m. The cash he reclaimed from the precinct earlier that day sat on his front seat in a black bag. Ryan couldn't wait to finally be rid of it.

He turned a corner, pulling in around the back of a small, dingy bar. He got out of his car, taking the bag with him, and warily walked up to a small door that emitted an eerie reddish light. A tall, surly man stood outside, smoking. When Ryan approached, they both nodded in recognition, and the man stepped away from the door to let Ryan through.

The door led Ryan into a dim, narrow hallway. On the other end of it he could see the rundown bar and lounge area, bathed in red light. But Ryan wasn't going there.

He instead went to his left, where he found a narrow, creaky staircase that led down into the establishment's basement. He felt his heartbeat quicken. He took a steadying breath as he descended, and then he stepped into a shadowy room. The only window was completely covered with thick, black curtains to keep out both light and eyes.

"Officer Wolfe, welcome!" said a man sitting behind an old teak desk. He was flanked by two armed men with blank, intimidating faces. Ryan eyed the holsters at their waists.

The man noticed his gaze. "Don't worry, Officer, they're just my security personnel. You are under my protection here as long as you...behave. Now, to business."

Ryan slowly approached the desk and placed the bag on it, every nerve in his body buzzing. "Here's your 500,000, with interest, Mr. Koll."

Koll pulled the bag closer, unzipped one side of it and peered inside. He looked up at Ryan suspiciously. "Am I going to be finding any nasty dye packs or GPS markers in here, then?"

"No, Mr. Koll."

"Hm." He nodded slightly, seemingly satisfied. "I like you, Wolfe. True to your word, just like cops from the old days."

"Thank you, Mr. Koll," he said quietly, turning to go.

"Hold up a moment, Wolfe."

Ryan froze, his instincts clamoring to run, and fast. His hand itched to reach for his gun, but he knew the move would probably cost him his life.

"I need a favor from you, Wolfe."

Ryan turned slowly to face him, disbelieving. "What?"

Koll looked at him condescendingly. "Let's just say sometimes I'm more interested in favors than money."

Ryan shook his head, fear slowly creeping over him. "No, I paid you back. We're even. Transaction terminated."

"No, I don't think so."

Two sets of hands suddenly clamped onto Ryan's shoulders tightly. The one gripping his left shoulder sent a jolt of pain through him. He gritted his teeth until his jaw creaked.

"Have a seat, son."

One of the security men brought forward a beat up, wooden chair. The two men holding onto Ryan steered him toward it. As they forced him down onto it, Ryan rebelliously thought, _I am _not _your son, you piece of crap__._

"So, Wolfe." Koll folded his hands in front of him and leaned forward. "How are things at your little crime lab?"

Ryan didn't answer.

"I'd like you to do something for me. I have a son, Benny, who's being investigated for sexual assault on some broad he thought was a hooker."

Ryan tried to keep his disgust and anger from his face, his iron grip on the chair turning his knuckles white. He knew where this conversation was going.

"What can I say? My kid's not the brightest. Can't even tell a hooker apart from other girls. Anyway, this girl went to the cops and gave your people hair and DNA samples. They came to my house yesterday with a warrant for samples from my Benny. They had nothing to arrest him with yet, but I'm concerned those fancy machines you have are going to spit out a match to my kid any day now. Those samples and the girl's statement are all they got on him. I need those samples to get lost."

"Lost?"

"You know what I mean."

Ryan did know what he meant. He stared at the ground as his mind ticked furiously, searching for any way out of the situation. There were armed men at his back and front. Even if he managed to so much as get out of the chair, he would be hard-pressed to get to the stairs without at least four bullets in his back. A chill crept over his skin as he realized there would be no escape.

He looked back at Koll, rebellion glittering in his brown eyes. "No," he said, quietly but firmly.

Koll sighed. "You disappoint me." He jerked his head in a curt nod to someone behind Ryan.

A blinding pain crashed through Ryan's head as someone hit him across the face with brutal force. His mind reeled from the blow as he fought to stay upright.

As he watched Ryan try to collect himself, Koll asked him patiently. "Would you like to change your answer?"

Ryan glared at him again. "No," he growled.

Another blow pounded him from the other side, hitting him on the mouth. He tasted blood; his lip was split and he had bitten his tongue.

"Son, we can do this all night. Can you?"

Ryan didn't answer. He locked his furious gaze on Koll's face and spat a stream of blood onto the floor.

Koll's gaze hardened. "Very well."

**~:o:~**

"Calleigh."

She looked up to see Horatio standing at the threshold.

"Could you come with me, please?" he asked.

"Of course," she mumbled, following him.

They stopped outside one of the fingerprints labs. Eric was inside, lifting prints from a glass bottle. He looked up when they stopped outside his door.

"What's up?" he asked them.

Horatio beckoned to him, and Eric immediately joined them in the hall. Horatio led them down the hall toward the locker room.

"Cal, what's this about?" Eric asked her quietly.

She was about to tell him she didn't know when Horatio said, "Not here."

They fell silent again and kept walking. Horatio pushed open the door to the locker room and stepped inside. After brief hesitation and an exchanged look of confusion, Calleigh and Eric stepped inside.

Ryan was sitting on one of the benches, holding an ice pack to his mouth. His right eye was black and puffy, his nose visibly broken. His breathing was shallow, denoting cracked ribs. He looked up at Eric and Calleigh dolefully.

"Please don't say I told you so," he said thickly, the ice pack muffling his voice.

"Oh, my God, Ryan, who did this to you?" Calleigh cried.

"It was Deacon Koll," Horatio said.

"The mobster?" Eric said. He turned to Ryan. "_That's_ who you got the money from?"

Ryan looked down at the floor and nodded.

Calleigh put a hand over her eyes and leaned heavily against a locker.

"I gave him his money, but he wanted a favor too. He wants me to destroy the evidence in the investigation against his son. When I told him I wouldn't do it, he had his guys do this," Ryan explained, pointing at his face.

"What do we do?" Calleigh asked Horatio.

"We use this," he answered.

"How?" Eric asked. "Are we talking set-up here? Because Koll's not going to be easy to catch."

"He wants me to bring him proof that I've destroyed all the physical evidence and he wants me to bring him all the original documents and photos from the file. Everything," Ryan told them.

"How does he expect you to manage that one?" Calleigh demanded.

"Cal, I really don't think he cares," Ryan pointed out dully.

"This is an opportunity for us to get Deacon," Horatio said. "Plans are already being put in motion, but Ryan insisted that both of you knew what was going on."

Eric sighed. "Okay, so what's the plan?"

**~:o:~**

Deacon Koll laughed harshly. "Son, you never cease to amaze me."

Ryan didn't answer as he stood watching Koll paw through the files and photos on his desk, triumph all over the older man's face.

"Well, Tom here owes me fifty bucks," Koll said, indicating the man standing at his right elbow. "He bet me you wouldn't show."

"You made it very clear to me what would happen if I didn't, Mr. Koll," Ryan replied.

"Good man. You've done my family a great service, Mr. Wolfe. I won't forget it."

"I'd prefer it if you did," Ryan muttered.

That made Koll laugh again. "I knew I liked you. You are much more fun than my other cop friends."

"Are we friends, Mr. Koll?" Ryan asked.

"We are now, Mr. Wolfe."

There was a silence.

"But, unfortunately," Koll stated delicately, "I don't think it would be in my son's best interests to leave any potential witnesses around."

With impressive speed, Koll reached under his desk, pulled out a handgun and fired a bullet straight at Ryan's heart. With a small cry of pain, Ryan fell to the floor and lay still.

Confusion erupted around the room as the scene seemed to explode amid shouts and breaking glass. The window shattered as two SWAT officers busted through it. A dozen more streamed down the stairs into the room.

"Miami-Dade Police! Drop your weapons!"

Koll looked around, amazed. His security detail glanced from officer to officer, unsure of what to do, waiting for an order from Koll. He held up one hand, and the men reluctantly put their guns on the ground.

"A wise decision, Deacon." Horatio stepped out from behind two SWAT officers to face Koll. "You're under arrest," he said.

"Hook them up." Multiple officers stepped forward to handcuff Koll and his men and then led them all upstairs and outside.

Once they were gone, Horatio went to kneel beside Ryan's body. He put a hand on Ryan's shoulder and carefully rolled him onto his back.

"It's safe, Ryan. They're gone."

Ryan opened his eyes and moaned quietly. "Brilliant plan," he gasped.

"Alright, come on," Horatio said, helping him to sit up. "Easy."

Gasping, Ryan unbuttoned his shirt to reveal the Kevlar vest underneath. The bullet had been stopped just over his heart.

"A couple inches higher..," he began, but didn't want to finish the sentence.

"Now you'll have a nice, new bruise to go with the rest of your recent collection," Horatio pointed out dryly.

**~:o:~**

"H, I don't need to go to the hospital," Ryan insisted. He and Horatio were walking to the CSI Hummer outside the bar. Koll and his men were being loaded into patrol cars.

"The bullet could have cracked something, you need an x-ray."

Ryan saw Koll being put into the back of a police cruiser. He met the other man's eyes. Koll's eyes widened in shock and confusion, then hardened into fury.

"You're a dead man, Wolfe!" he roared across the street. "You're dead!"

**~:o:~**

A week passed. Koll and his men were put in jail without further incident. A mountain of evidence, including Ryan's statements, was compiled against them, and the DA was anxious to file the case. Ryan returned to work, both his fear and his bruises fading.

"Hey, Ryan, are you done with the crime scene photos from this morning?" Calleigh asked, ducking into the layout room he was in.

"Yeah," he answered, picking up a folder of photographs. "Here you go."

She took the folder from him. "Thanks," she said. Ryan turned back to his work, but Calleigh didn't leave.

"You okay?" she asked.

He looked at her, then smiled half-heartedly. "Yeah."

She looked doubtful.

"Well, I'll be better once it's all over."

"Koll and his men are in custody," she pointed out. "You're safe now."

"It's just something Koll said to me the night we took him down," Ryan explained hesitantly. "I just keep getting this weird feeling that something's not right. Like I missed something."

"I think that'll pass. You just need to get used to being safe again," she said. "This really hasn't been your month."

He grinned at that. "No it hasn't. Thanks, Cal."

"You're welcome." With that, she left him to go work on her own projects.

**~:o:~**

"Man, I'm beat," Eric said, stretching. He, Calleigh, Horatio and Ryan were downstairs filing the last of the day's paperwork with various homicide detectives. The Miami sunset streamed through the glass, setting every surface aflame with an orange blaze.

"At least we finally found who killed Murray Fleming," Calleigh pointed out.

"Yes, good work on that," Horatio said.

"Hey, my victim's wife is leaving," Ryan noticed. "I'll be right back, I'm just going to go walk her out." He left them and exited the front door of the building to catch up to a blonde woman outside.

"Anybody feel like grabbing a burger after clock-out?" Eric asked.

Suddenly, a woman's scream outside split the air. The three wheeled around to see two men wrestling Ryan into a black SUV. The blonde woman he was just talking to was on the ground, yelling for help.

"Wolfe!" Eric yelled.

The three of them sprinted to the door, flanked by the rest of the department that heard the commotion. As they ran outside, the SUV's door slammed and the car began to race away on screeching tires.

"Eric, get in the chopper, follow that SUV!" Horatio ordered, climbing into a Hummer. Eric sprinted toward the helicopter landing strip, calling an order on his phone for a copter and two pilots to meet him there.

Horatio raced out in the Hummer, following Ryan's captors. Calleigh got into a Hummer of her own and took off after him, every other available cop hot on her heels, sirens blazing.

Horatio pursued them down the road, lights and sirens on full blast. The SUV, thirty yards ahead, plowed through traffic recklessly, causing multiple collisions in its wake. Horatio stayed on it doggedly. _No one_ was taking his CSI without a fight.

The SUV's front passenger side window rolled down. Horatio swerved to the left just as someone fired an automatic spray of rounds at him from the open window. The move caused him to sideswipe a car in the other lane, but Horatio didn't so much as hazard a look back. He would have emptied his own gun at the shooter or the driver in retaliation, but he couldn't risk hitting Ryan.

Eric's voice came over the radio. "H, I'm in the chopper," he said. "What's your location?"

Horatio picked up his radio to reply but was forced to swerve again as another round of bullets exploded form the open window. He heard a crash behind him and risked a look in his rearview mirror. A patrol car had taken a bullet through the windshield, swerved to the left and crashed headlong into another police cruiser. The two went careening off the road as the rest of the pursuers, led by Calleigh in the Hummer, were forced to make drastic evasive moves.

Horatio picked up his radio again. "Eric, we're in pursuit of a black Ford SUV, heading north on Granados. Suspects are armed with at least one automatic weapon. We just passed the intersection with Sycamore."

"Copy that, H," Eric responded. "We're heading your way now."

Three police cruisers suddenly appeared in the intersection in front of the SUV, cutting in through a side street. The SUV swung violently as the driver slammed the brakes and veered to right, turning off onto a one-way street heading in the wrong direction. Horatio followed without hesitation.

"Alright, Eric, he's turned onto Fortstaff Drive heading east," Horatio called out over the radio.

"Got it, H, we're right above you now."

Horatio glanced upward through the moon roof and saw the chopper hovering over them. "Can you tell where he's headed?"

"Besides going up the wrong way on a one-way, I don't know," Eric answered. "He's not heading to the glades, they're in the other direction."

"Keep a look-out, Eric. All units be advised they have a hostage and he's one of ours, so hold your fire." Horatio put down his radio and focused on the SUV in front of him, closing in. "Where are you taking him, you son of a bitch?" he muttered to himself.

**~:o:~**

Ryan tried to keep his face blank as he was jostled and tossed in the back of the SUV without a seatbelt on. A man with dark, curly hair and a goatee held a Glock to Ryan's temple the entire ride, the man's eyes never leaving Ryan's face, as if daring him to make a move.

"You know, I'm not going anywhere, you could at least put the safety on," Ryan mumbled dryly.

"Shut up!" the man barked, jabbing him with the gun. Ryan fell silent again, closing his eyes tiredly.

The man sitting in the front seat with the automatic on his lap turned to face the curly-haired man and tossed a length of rope back. "Tie him up, Yuri."

Yuri obeyed, dropping the Glock from Ryan's head and picking up the rope. "Lean forward," he ordered.

When Ryan didn't comply immediately, Yuri grabbed him by the back of the collar and shoved him forward, grabbing his arms in order to tie his hands behind his back.

Just as he did that, a vibrant curse erupted from the driver's mouth as the SUV pitched wildly to strike an oncoming vehicle on the one-way. Ryan was thrown forward shoulder-first, slamming into the door violently. He felt his shoulder dislocate with a sickening crunch as a searing pain shot through him. He let out a yell of pain before clamping his jaw shut in an agony-stricken grimace.

The man in the front seat wheeled around. "What the hell just happened?" he demanded.

Yuri looked Ryan over. "I think his shoulder popped out."

"You dumbass! Just tie him up and try to keep him in one piece until we get there."

Yuri pushed Ryan forward once more, mercilessly yanking his arms behind him and tied his wrists together. Ryan fought the urge to vomit, practically blind with pain. He didn't even have the will to resist his captors anymore.

"Not so tough without all your friends around, are you?" Yuri taunted. "Let's see you treat the Koll family like that now, you little punk!"

Ryan looked at him emotionlessly. "Deacon Koll got what he deserved."

"That's Mr. Koll to you," snapped the driver.

Ryan leaned toward Yuri, a viciously triumphant look on his face. "Tell Benny he'd better watch his back, 'cause he's next."

Yuri slammed the butt of the Glock over Ryan's right eye, drawing blood. "We'll see how proud you are once Benny's done with you," he growled.

Ryan shook his head slightly, trying to get the blood out of his eye, his head throbbing. "So, Benny Koll _is_ behind this, then. It figures he would be too chicken to come for me himself."

Yuri growled angrily. "He was a little pissed about what you did to set up his father. He wants to talk to you about it. We're on our way to meet him."

"You would all be best served if you stopped the car and let me go right now," Ryan told them.

The driver and Yuri laughed harshly. "Nice try, man," Yuri said. "Why's that?"

"Because every cop in Miami is on your ass right now, and if anything happens to me, my friends won't hesitate to kill you."

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" Yuri sneered.

"No, that's a guarantee."

The driver laughed again. "They'll have to catch us first."

Ryan suddenly felt delirious, his mind spinning and loose, as if he was losing grip of reality. A dull roar filled his hearing as bright lights flashed across his eyesight. His head and shoulders sagged forward, suddenly too heavy for him to hold up. He was too out of it to even feel the excruciating pain in his shoulder anymore. He shut his eyes, fighting to maintain consciousness.

Yuri noticed Ryan's sudden trouble. "Hey, Leo?"

The man in the front seat turned around. "What?" he barked.

"I think there's something wrong with him."

Leo looked Ryan over then turned back to face Yuri. "What are you, his mother? As long as he doesn't die before we get him to Benny, I don't really give a damn if he's bleeding from the eyeballs. We're almost there anyway."

**~:o:~**

Horatio narrowly avoided crashing into a parked sedan for about the fifth time. Multiple voices called orders over the radio for road blocks and traffic control, but Horatio ignored them, his eyes locked on the careening SUV in front of him. The thought of Ryan as someone's hostage made his stomach turn over with fury.

"Come in, H."

Horatio picked up his radio to answer. "What do you have, Eric?"

"You're heading for a wall in about 400 yards. The road has a 90 degree turn coming up to your right, parallel with the ocean."

"So he's headed for water. Probably going to try to put Ryan on a boat. Call the Coast Guard, ask them to be on the lookout for any suspicious vessels leaving this stretch of docking in a five mile radius."

"You got it, but we're losing sunlight fast. It's getting pretty hard to see up here, we'll turn on the searchlight in the next couple of minutes."

"Keep us posted, Eric. Calleigh, did you get all that?"

"Yes, I did."

"Okay, you take four cruisers and turn off at the next street, try to cut him off."

"Copy that."

Horatio watched in the rearview as Calleigh turned right and disappeared down the street, four patrol cars behind.

Suddenly, Eric's voice came shouting over the radio.

"H, watch out!"

Horatio slammed on the brakes and swung violently to the left as a pickup truck came out of nowhere, coming between the Hummer and the SUV. The two vehicles collided side to side. The patrol cars behind Horatio swerved and skidded to avoid hitting them.

Horatio put a hand to his head; it came away bloody. He drew his gun and got out of the Hummer, pointing the weapon at the driver's side window of the pickup.

"Miami-Dade P.D., get out of the car now!"

No one came out. Horatio stepped up to the window and looked inside. An iron pipe lay on the floor; someone had used it to wedge the gas pedal down, but it had been dislodged in the collision.

Horatio waved his arms at the police officers around him. "Go after him, go!"

The officers that still had a functioning car got back in and took off again, skirting around the wreck. Enraged, Horatio got his radio.

"Where'd he go, Eric?"

"He took the right turn I told you about. Calleigh hit some trouble; someone put spike strips on the outlet road she took to cut them off. She's okay, but she and the cruisers with her are grounded. The patrols on them now are going to have a hard time catching up with them."

"Whatever you do, Eric, stay on them. Do not lose them, you hear me? You're our last chance to catch them," Horatio said. "They were ready for us, let's be ready for them."

Horatio suddenly heard a string of curses over the radio, but they were incoherent. "Eric, talk to me."

"He pulled into a garage. Kensington and Rio."

"Keep eyes on that garage, they may be trying to switch cars."

"Three different cars have already come out of the garage since he went in. Ryan could be in any one of them if they switched fast enough. A blue and a red sedan, and a green SUV. The cruisers have split up to follow each one."

"Good work, I'm on my way."

Calleigh ran out from the side street. "Horatio! The Hummer's flat-lined, the spike strips took out all four tires."

"Not to worry. You drive," he told her, getting into the Hummer's passenger seat. "Mine's pretty beat up, but it's still running."

Calleigh obeyed, climbing into the driver's seat. She and Horatio took off after the suspects.

**~:o:~**

Ryan snapped out of his pain-induced stupor when he felt the car stop suddenly and someone outside opened his door. Yuri pointed the Glock at his head again. "Get out," he said.

Ryan refused to give them the satisfaction of obedience. Besides, the more time he could give his friends to catch up, the better his chances of survival.

"I said get out!" Yuri ordered, shoving Ryan out of the car.

Caught off balance with his hands tied, Ryan fell out of the SUV onto his dislocated shoulder. The shockwave of agony that coursed through him hurt too much to even scream. He lay his head on the cool pavement floor of the garage, breathing shallowly.

Strong arms picked him up roughly to set him on his feet. Leo came up to stand in front of him as the driver took off deeper into the garage toward the higher levels. Leo held his automatic to Ryan's head and gestured toward three doors at the far end of the garage. "Walk."

Ryan stared straight down the barrel. "Throughout this little adventure, all you've kept telling me is that I'm about to die. So if that's true, why should your guns scare me anymore? I'm dead either way."

The men laughed. "Mr. Koll said he was fun," Leo told his comrades. "All noble and crap."

Two of the men locked iron grips on Ryan's elbows and walked, forcing him to go with them no matter how hard he struggled. The group crossed the garage, heading for the door on the far left. Leo pushed it open, holding it open for the others to come through.

As Ryan was about to pass Leo, he suddenly lunged to the right, trying to hit him. The other men's grip on him kept him from succeeding; he only managed to crack the right side of his head on the door, the same place Yuri had opened with his gun butt earlier. The impact reopened the wound, and a trickle of blood dribbled sluggishly down the side of his face.

Leo laughed at his feeble attempt. "Nice try," he sneered. He repaid Ryan with a right hook square in the jaw, cutting his lip. "But don't try it again."

Ryan didn't answer, but inside he felt a small rush of triumph at the small red streak that now marked the door. It shut behind them as the men led him through a narrow corridor.

**~:o:~**

Horatio and Calleigh made it to the garage less than a minute after they left the scene of the collision.

"Eric, is this garage connected to any of the surrounding buildings?" Horatio asked over the radio.

"It doesn't look like it, H."

"Then they might still be in here somewhere." Horatio put his radio down and drew his gun as they pulled into the garage. There wasn't a soul in sight.

"Drive through slowly. Maybe they took him to a higher level," Horatio instructed Calleigh.

As she was about to turn onto the ramp to take them higher, Calleigh suddenly hit the brakes, making the tires squeal.

"Blood," she said, getting out of the Hummer hurriedly and making for a door nearby.

Horatio joined her outside, coming up beside her to view a small, red blood smear across one of three doors. "It's fresh," he remarked. "Good eye."

"Ryan's leaving us a trail," she said quietly. Both of them drew their guns.

"Ready?" he asked her. Calleigh nodded.

Horatio pushed the door open as Calleigh pointed her gun inside. The door opened into a narrow hallway lined with pipes. No one was inside.

"A maintenance tunnel," she said. She looked back at Horatio. "This would connect the garage and the building next to it underground."

Horatio nodded. "They've gone through here, probably to a switch car nearby."

"Why are they going through all this trouble?" Calleigh asked numbly. "If they wanted Ryan dead, why didn't they just shoot him outside CSI and run?"

"Someone is making this very personal, Cal, and I think I know who."

Horatio got back on the radio as he and Calleigh ran back to the Hummer. "Eric, have any more cars left the vicinity of this garage or the building next to it?"

"We turned the searchlight on, but that only gave us a limited viewing area. I think I saw a silver SUV leave the parking lot next door about a minute ago."

"Eric, follow that SUV. It's them, they got into the building next door through a maintenance tunnel and left from there to throw us off. Did you see which way it went?"

Horatio heard Eric curse fluently. "It went south but it's long gone by now, H. We're searching in the dark!"

Horatio felt his heart grow cold. "Eric," he said weakly, "if we don't find that SUV, Ryan is dead."

**~:o:~**

After what felt like an eternity, the SUV came to a stop. Ryan looked out the window into the pitch blackness of night. A dull yellow light seemed to float in space outside. Then he realized it was a lantern hanging from a boat, the water pitching the boat and making the lantern bob up and down.

They were at a dock of some kind.

The side door opened and a man looked at Ryan expectantly, a smirk on his face. The man put his arm out in a sarcastic bow.

Ryan knew his time was up.

He stepped out of the car steadily, his head held high. If this was how he was going to die, then it would be on his terms, not theirs. He walked toward the water, following the path bordered by armed men.

As he stepped onto the wooden dock from solid land, he surprised himself with his calm. His heartbeat was steady and not a single drop of sweat marked his brow. He drew himself up to his full height, ignoring the sharp ache in his shoulder, knowing full well that he soon wouldn't feel anything anymore. He'd begun accepting it about a minute after they put him into the second SUV, when he realized that they had succeeded in losing the police.

His friends wouldn't be able to save him this time.

As he neared the end of the dock, a young man stepped in front of him off of a nearby boat. The man laughed, throwing wide his arms.

"Welcome, Mr. Wolfe!" he exclaimed.

Ryan nodded curtly. "Hello, Benny."

**~:o:~**

Calleigh and Horatio continued scanning the darkness, searching desperately for any sign of the SUV, but despair had begun to sink into their hearts.

In a last ditch attempt, Horatio got on the radio with the air unit one more time. "Eric, have you got anything? Have you heard back from the Coast Guard?"

Horatio could hear the defeat in Eric's voice. "No, H. Nothing."

"Then they haven't taken him off land." Horatio contemplated for a moment. Suddenly, it came to him.

"Eric, Ryan was investigating Koll a few years back for smuggling. Did he ever find out where Koll was bringing in his merchandise?"

"I'll call the lab and tell Natalia to look through Ryan's reports."

"Double-time, please. Every second worsens our chances of getting Ryan back alive."

"Provided he's not already dead," Calleigh whispered dejectedly.

A cold silence crept over them both at her words.

"Seastone Marina!" Calleigh gasped.

Horatio looked at her. "What?"

Calleigh spoke quickly, an edge of excited hope creeping into her voice. "The day Ryan came in to reclaim the ransom money and sign his leave papers, he had coffee with me and Eric in the break room before he left. We asked him about where he got the money and he told us about Koll and how he was investigating him a few years ago."

Her green eyes shone in the darkness. "He said they had to drop the case because they couldn't get anything from the loading dock."

"Seastone Marina?" he asked, barely daring to hope.

"Seastone Marina," she confirmed, not a single hint of doubt in her voice.

Horatio immediately got on the radio. "Eric, we have a location. Divert all available units to Seastone Marina. Repeat, all units to Seastone Marina!"

**~:o:~**

"You must be really brave, Benny," Ryan said dryly. "Facing an unarmed man with his hands tied, surrounded by security personnel." He looked around skeptically at the men surrounding him. "Your daddy only needed four guys."

Benny seemed a little taken aback by his comment. "You're running your mouth an awful lot for a guy who's about to get blown to hell."

Ryan stared straight into Benny's eyes, less than a foot away from his face, his brown eyes sparking with ice-cold lightning. "I'll save you a seat when I get there," he said softly.

Benny didn't answer, a small twinge of self-doubt and fear flashing across his face.

Ryan smiled wickedly. "You're not even half the man your father is. At least he had the stones to do me right. A bullet to the heart, quick and simple. No car chases. No dramatic kidnapping. None of that flashy crap. You're just a coward."

"Shut up!" Benny roared, backhanding Ryan across the face. As Ryan stumbled back from the blow, Benny kicked him square in the gut. Ryan dropped to his knees, the wind knocked out of him.

"I'll teach you for what you did to my father!" Benny shouted, losing his temper. With one ferocious kick, he slammed his booted heel into Ryan's dislocated left shoulder. Ryan screamed in agony, falling on his uninjured side and lay there moaning quietly, his breath coming in shallow gasps through gritted teeth.

Benny stood over him, a bloodthirsty smile of triumph on his face.

Ryan looked up at him from the ground, brown eyes glinting like steel. "Is that all you got?" he growled in a voice cracked with pain.

Benny's smile vanished into an ugly snarl. "Get him up!" he ordered, walking to the edge of the dock.

Two men stepped forward to drag Ryan to his feet and tow him over to where Benny was standing.

"On your knees," Benny barked.

When Ryan didn't drop, one of the men kicked him forcibly behind the knees. Ryan hit the dock hard, barely catching himself before face-planting with his hands tied behind him.

Ryan didn't look up at Benny, but instead closed his eyes. _This is it_, he thought. _I'm about to die. _A cold fog filled his mind, all time seeming to stop as images flashed before his mind's eye.

_Calleigh. _

Green eyes. A cheerful southern accent. Bullets. Motherly worry.

He heard footsteps approach him, knowing they were Benny's.

_Eric._

Dependability. Brother-in-arms. Sadness. The best friend he'd ever had.

Cloth rustled as Benny drew something from the depths of his jacket. Ryan knew exactly what it was.

_Horatio._

Red hair. A father-figure. Always there when needed. His mentor.

A metallic click sounded right above his left ear as Benny pressed a thumb to the hammer, cocking the gun in preparation to shoot.

_Sirens?_

With a blast of noise, half a dozen police cruisers burst into view at the far end of the dock, accompanied by a CSI Hummer. Benny and his men froze, dumbfounded. By sneaking up without lights and sirens, the police had taken them completely by surprise.

"Miami-Dade police! Drop your weapons!" someone called over a megaphone.

No one moved. The police officers all placed themselves behind their vehicles, guns poised at the captors' heads. Ryan's heart gave a small leap when he saw Horatio and Calleigh climb out of the Hummer and take firing positions.

"Drop your weapons now!" the officer repeated.

A buzzing sound made Ryan turn toward the water. Police speedboats and Coast Guard vessels surrounded the dock about 15 yards away. Out of the corner of his eye, by the light from the police cars' headlights, he saw Eric standing at the bow of one of the vessels with his gun drawn.

Ryan caught Yuri's panic-stricken gaze. "Told you," he said.

Yuri gulped.

"Give it up, Benny!" Horatio yelled. "Put the gun down and step away from him!"

Benny stood frozen, his mind working rapidly. He didn't lower the gun from Ryan's head.

"You can get out of this alive, Benny," Horatio continued. "But only if you put the gun down, _now_."

Benny looked around him deliberately, as if scoping out any means of escape. Finding none, his face hardened.

"Fine," he said softly, and lowered his arm to drop the gun.

Suddenly, Benny kicked Ryan in the chest with all his might, sending him plummeting backward into the dark water. Then Benny opened fire on the officers.

The dock erupted into chaos as everyone who had a gun fired it. Benny's men went down one by one, but many of them took cover on nearby boats, shooting from behind the railings.

Meanwhile, Eric kicked off his shoes and haphazardly tossed his gun aside.

"Wolfe!" he cried, diving headfirst into the water, swimming frantically toward where his friend had fallen in.

**~:o:~**

Ryan kicked desperately under the crushing blackness, but his clothes weighed him down. The last of his strength, already tapped out, was leaving him at an alarming rate. With his hands still tied behind his back, he couldn't swim to the surface.

The water was cold and dark. The salt water burned his eyes and the cuts on his face as his increasingly feeble attempts to kick to the surface came less and less frequently. A weight began to press heavily on his lungs and brain, the last of his breath tapped out too.

Ryan stopped fighting, everything going numb. He closed his eyes as he sank deeper into the shadowy depths. He felt a rushing coolness throughout his body as consciousness slowly ebbed away from him.

_If this is death, it's not so bad._

Darkness enveloped him as he let go of his last breath. His heart slowed, then stilled completely.

**~:o:~**

Horatio ran to the edge of the dock, Calleigh hot on his heels. Police officers handcuffed and rounded up the last of Benny's men that had managed to survive. Benny let out a yelp as his head slammed into the roof of a patrol car while he was being loaded in. Calleigh had managed to put a bullet in his arm, triggering his surrender.

Now Calleigh and Horatio stood silently side by side at the dock's edge, searching the water desperately for any sign of Ryan or Eric.

Eric suddenly surfaced about five yards away from the dock, choking for air.

Ryan was slumped over his shoulder.

"Help!" Eric gasped, floundering in the water under his friend's weight.

Without hesitation, Horatio jumped into the water.

Calleigh turned back to the other end of the dock. "Rescue!" she shouted. "We need help over here!"

Horatio reached Eric and helped him swim the rest of the way to the dock. As they neared Calleigh waiting at the edge, Horatio climbed up onto the dock and helped her to pull Ryan and Eric out of the water.

As they pulled Ryan away from the edge and laid him down, Eric drew a knife and cut the rope binding his hands. They placed Ryan on his back, his body limp and cold. Eric knelt down to listen for breath and felt for a pulse. Alarm flooded him.

"He's not breathing!"

"Oh, my God," Calleigh whispered.

"Get those paramedics over here!" Horatio ordered hoarsely.

Eric started chest compressions, determinedly trying to pump life into his friend's still frame. "Come on, Wolfe," he begged. "Breathe."

The paramedics arrived at a run. Horatio and Calleigh stepped back to let them in, his arm around her shoulders. Calleigh held one hand over her mouth as tears silently rolled down her face. One of the paramedics unfolded a breathing mask and placed it over Ryan's mouth and nose. When Eric finished the first set of compressions, she blew into the mask twice, watching to see if Ryan's chest rose.

Eric began compressions again, a desperate glint in his eyes. "Damn it, Ryan," he shouted. "You survive all this mess and you give up now? You've got to fight!"

The paramedic breathed into the mask two more times. When Ryan still didn't respond, she met Eric's eyes with a saddened look. He went cold.

"No!" he cried. "Don't you give up on him!"

"If he's not responding by now, there's a good chance he won't...," she began.

"No!" Eric shouted, resuming chest compressions. As he pounded on Ryan's chest, he spoke quietly.

"You hear me, Ryan? We didn't give up on you when those bastards stole you from us, so you can't give up on us. We chased you halfway across Miami through gunfire and all their attempts to shake us, but they couldn't, and we found you. Do _not _let them win, you got that? You need to breathe now. Come on, damn you, breathe!"

With one last burst of exertion, Eric slammed one fist down on Ryan's sternum.

Water exploded from Ryan's mouth as he coughed violently, gasping for air. With a relieved cry of surprise, Eric helped the paramedics turn Ryan onto his side, making it easier for him to breathe. Calleigh threw her arms around Horatio with elation, crying into his shoulder as he held her tight.

After Ryan had coughed up all the water from his lungs, they rolled him gently onto his back. The paramedics went to work taking his vital signs and preparing him for transport to the hospital.

Ryan looked up at Eric dazedly through heavy eyelids. "Delko?" he whispered hoarsely.

Eric knelt down and put a hand on Ryan's good shoulder. "Yeah, Ryan?"

"Since when do you call me Ryan?"

Eric grinned. "Since you scared the crap out of me, man. I thought you'd died on us."

Ryan closed his eyes. "I think I did for a bit there."

"Yeah, well, thanks for coming back, Wolfe."

Ryan grinned weakly. "Well, it was the only way to get you to stop yelling at me."

Eric chuckled at that.

"Is it over?"

Eric nodded. "We got 'em, Wolfe. Every last one. The Koll family is finished thanks to you."

"You guys did all the hard work. I was just the designated punching bag."

One of the paramedics approached with a gurney. "It's time to go," she said. They loaded Ryan onto the stretcher and began to wheel him to the ambulance. As they passed by, Calleigh reached out to hold Ryan's hand, walking with them to the ambulance.

"Try to stay out of trouble, okay?" she said sweetly. Ryan squeezed her hand gently and grinned.

The three CSIs gathered around the ambulance as Ryan was loaded into the back of it.

"Stay strong, Wolfe," Eric told him.

"We'll meet you at the hospital, okay?" Horatio said.

Ryan nodded. "Thanks."

The paramedic closed the door and the ambulance pulled away from the dock. Ryan watched his three comrades through the windows until the ambulance turned a corner and they dropped out of sight.

The paramedic hung an IV bag from a hook, then prepared to insert it into his arm. "They're a great bunch of people," she said. "It's nice to work with friends that care about you, isn't it?"

"They're not my friends."

She looked at him, confused.

"They're my family."


End file.
